Persona 4 Arena: Life Beyond Metal
by Golden Fires
Summary: After a stunt of rage and anger that didn't even affect much, Ryan awakens in a base under Yakushima a yer and a quater after Persona 3, where Ryan learns: Life is behind the skin. LabyrsxRyan Yousukexchie YuxYukiko NaotoxKanji Implied MitsuruxMinato and JunpeixChidori Rated T for Language/ Violence/ and slight graphic details (Blood Project scenes)
1. Chapter 1

Longest Chapter to date: 8/11/2013

Word count: 2838 words

"Omnia Sanguis, nullus mundi estis" -All is blood, none are clean-

Persona 4 Arena: Life beyond metal

Ryan opened his eyes, but he could not see, he tried to move his arms but no motion would come to him, his ears worked however as he could hear a conversation, "Ma'am It is not ready yet, he could still die simply from the god-damn activation. Even Yamagashi-sama says so."

"Kuris-san, He is waking up now, we are out of time. Turn the ASW on damn it!"

"*Sigh* Yes, Kirijo-sama."

"The area in front of Ryan's eyes flashed and Ryan began to experience a splitting pain in which it felt his nerve were being replaced or something. His body would have wracked around in pain, if it moved, and he would have screamed, if he had a voice, but all Kirijo and the assistant saw was Ryan opening his eyes. He screen in front of Ryan read, "Activation complete. Eight-Generation ASW R95N3 Online. Activating sight and other hybrid systems. Ryan's sight and movement returned to him, but he felt weak. Ryan immediately fell to one knee.

The first person Ryan saw was this old SEES commander/scanner: Mitsuru Kirijo. "Kirijo-sempai…how…am I…alive?" The Kirijo heir simply pointed towards the pile of scrap and machinery out side the window to Ryan's right. "You were brought here after the explosion."

FLASHBACK

"Freeze!" I yelled as I saw him, from the research lab, TATSUYA…The man who I thought was my friend at one point who ended up voluntelling me for the BLOOD project. That horrible mistake of a project. He froze and then tried to have Jin shut the doors until I shot the control panel, trapping all of us in there. I walked forward and then he ditched. Junpei and the group rushed Jin and Chidori, but I know they could live for all I cared, Tatsuya, was mine. He ran down the slope and guess what he and I ran into: the Arcana Shadow AKA the Tank. Tatsuya did what he always did, threaten me. He threatened to kill me or something, I wasn't listening to anything he said at this point, so I looked around and saw raw gunpowder in a pile near some artillery shells, so I took aim, made my peace and went to see my parents in heaven. I pulled the trigger and the flash over took me.

FLASHBACK END

Minato-san! What happened to Minato-san and the others? Mitsuru looked down and bit her lip. It's been almost two years since the detonation; Satona-kun…Minato is in a permanent Medical coma. He…died, Satona-kun…" She stopped and I looked down, "Was it because of me..."

"No, more than six months after the explosion that almost damaged the bunker."

"Why keep me alive, I nearly killed all of you in that fit of rage…"

"Because you proved that you were still human and not just a weapon as you once told me."

"Now I am definitely not human…now I am just a machine."

"No." Ryan raised his head in complete confusion.

"Now you are just a hybrid. Half man, half machine, the machine is only there to help you live in peace, but it IS a little noticeable." The assistant spoke as he got up from his computer, "Sorry, I am Kuris teppei. I am the head researcher here at the Yakushima base. I am the one put in charge of your recovery." I 'looked', I guess, at him and nodded, or at least I think I did, because he nodded back.

I left the room and wandered into a boy's restroom, I immediately stopped at a mirror. I must have taken a lot of damage in that fight, as my entire front of my face was covered n an armored helm, much like Ichoran's…I swore to the god's above as I removed the helm itself. There was white and black, and a bit of silver, but hell if I could tell what was what. My lips and below seemed untouched, but char black from there until my forehead with the exception of the silver strip, which was probably the reason that I am even seeing right now, in front of my eyes. My left arm was entirely metallic in a darkish blue and silver color like my helm. My right arm only had skin halfway between my shoulders and halfway to my elbow. My chest was all right, but had a chest plate over it, probably to go with the whole knight theme that is very apparent. We legs are completely metallic from the groin down, but my midsection has a metal plate over it, must have been cut open b the blast or something…very little of me am human now…isn't it.

I walk back out and see the same pier that we had met Aigis on nearly two years ago, though to me, it was maybe a month ago. I walk back towards the room were I met Mitsuru and see her still standing there, "I figured you would be back…"

"Where are the others, I am assuming that most of them hate me for nearly killing you all in the explosion at the cave. I mean, just to be that close to the one that practically destroyed your life, I just couldn't let him go off again. So what happened to them all?"

"Aigis is in standby mode about two floors up. Akihiko decided to train around the world in order to get better. Junpei is currently working as the DJ and bartender for club Escapade while he dates Chidori. Fuuka opened a famous restaurant on the edge of town. Yukari…fell off the grid; we have no idea where she is. Koromaru is living with Fuuka. Ken is staying with Junpei until he finishes school, Chidori has basically came to see him as a family member now."

"Who is Chidori? I don't know her…Makes me think what else that I have missed." Not waiting for an explanation he left the room and began to ascend the stairs and along the way up, he saw a door labeled observation room 1 elevator. I stepped into the door to the left that was labeled observation room 1. "So, how does this system work? Umm…computer… activate? Systems go…turn on…Let's go!" The computer snapped on, "My old battle phrase huh? Clever… Run full diagnostic!" The computer displayed the following things:

Diagnostic: 4/20/2012

Armor mode: offline

Persona Activator: on standby/ raise fist into air and say name of persona to activate.

Vision mode: Normal

Healing devices online.

Note: LONGSWORD offline

Notice: encased shadows in the area. Threat level minimum

"Well, that's handy. Computer, nearest armory, time to eliminate some shadows."

The text read: Follow line commander" Then a yellow line raced along the floor towards the second floor armory in the facility, but the door said that it was denying me access. Yeah…Right." Computer open the stupid door." The door slid open, 'Thank you." I could have sworn I heard my own voice say thank you. However, there were more pressing concerns at the moment. I took simply a M1911, the same gun I had always used.

I entered the observation room and had the computer in my suit lock down the door. I then told him…to release the shadows from captivity. But then I thought I heard myself …arguing?

"Umm…commander, is this smart, I mean you did just wake up." Oh, so the computer did talk, I mean Ichoran talks to me too, but now I have two versions of me talking: The one keeping alive…and the one I use to take other's lives…

"Hey, machine parts boy, leave the commander alone, he is the controlling being here. These creatures most likely put Minato in that damn coma, this is simply retribution." That was Ichoran. "But he was just released from injury, even if they did, why kill them?" again the computer. "These fuckers put him here in the first place all the more reason to slaughter ALL of them!" Ichoran sounded off, more blood thirsty then normal. Then it might because he never had to argue against anyone until now…

"Regardless, I must continue to grow stronger. Computer, how shall I address you?"

"I am the plume of dusk computer integration Hybrid program known as AC3S-O, ASO for short."

"Okay, Ichoran…are you ready?"

"I am you, I am always ready…" The evil tone of that was slightly disturbing…

I saw the shadows come out one by one as they either floated or slithered towards me. I simply slide the magazine into the gun and pulled back the slide. "Come and get it."

Unknown to Ryan, the second the shadows were released, the Alarms started blaring. The speaker said, OUTBREAK IN OBSERVATION ROOM ONE. EMERGENCY. EMERGENCY. ACTIVATING ALL RESPONSE UNITS. Mitsuru ran up the stairs and found Aigis finishing her preparations for threat that a 7th Generation ASW may have to deal with. Then the alarm was witched off as if someone was in the observation elevator's top deck of Observation room 1.

Mitsuru and Aigis ran towards the elevator and found several security guards standing in full assault gear and said, "It's Ryan." Mitsuru stopped with a solid look of surprise on her face. "Ryan, the one just out of surgery who is barely still alive and has been asleep for a year and a half? That Ryan?" Aigis was confused and voiced it bluntly, "Mitsuru-san, may I inquire if this is in fact if this Ryan is the one who nearly killed himself in the incident during the battle with the hierophant and Chariot Arcana Shadows?"

"Yes, but if he gets himself killed…open the door!"

"We can't we are locked out from the inside. Someone's hacked into the system. We were locked out of the entire console while we were up there."

"Could he have active the suit that quickly…? Aigis, counter hack it, get us in!"

"Operation terminal at top floor of the elevator." Aigis states as she hopped in the elevator with Mitsuru. The elevator rose quickly as the muffled sounds of gunshots were heard. "How did he get in his gun back? It was in the main armory…what did Teppei program into that suit?" Mitsuru murmured.

The image was clear from their end that of a clearly angered Ryan simply massacring lower level shadows reserved for training simulations. His voice was clear: "Where is the fight here, this is pathetic, ASO release some higher level shadows please." One the console the buttons for shadows levels switched from 0-15 to that of 16-30. Stronger shadows from the Arqa block came out, 'that of the levels he trained on for Minato…' Mitsuru thought.

"Ahh, here the bastards are. Well, you pricks took one of my few friends from me, so time to die little Pricks!" his voice sounded unnatural from normal, as if two voices were speaking. Ryan simply raised his hand and made a motion and Screamed, ICHORAN! Rampage! The knight of Silver steel came out, but something was off, the persona was bloody where Ryan had been injure and they were not even silver specks left, entirely red paint covered the area and his shield had a claw mark on it in the same red color. The sword surprisingly was clean.

Ryan swung his arms like he had a sword and Ichoran responded in kind by copying the exact swipes, decimating shadows and causing massive collateral damage to the room. During cool down sessions of his persona, he took some hits, albeit minor glancing blows, but hits nonetheless, as he unloaded the gun he possessed in to the faces of the creatures. This continued until the gun clicked dry, Ryan simply smirked and stared at the several, maybe five or so, shadows in front of him, "ASO, any ideas here."

"Only one." The sounds of mechanics moving surrounded his sense as if from behind him, but then something bummed his shoulder, he reached and felt what appeared to be a handle. Ryan smirked and pulled up launching of a plate that magnetized to his fully metal left arm, a shield and a sword, just like Ichoran…

Ichoran when summoned seemed to follow Ryan's movements when summoned, probably as a result of the blood program, a sick side project by Ikitsuki that fused a persona to one's life energy instead of their soul by confusing the synapse in the brain into believing that the two are in fact one entity. It sounded like solid research until they exposed Ryan's test group to shadow based combat while half had not even had their personas yet, the seven of the group whose personas had awoken had barely survived. They were then moved to the facility to rest, but escaped. A fellow experiment, Takaya from Strega, was at the scene of the escape and led Ikutsuki right to them, the reason that Ryan hated Takaya, or so he told… The fact that the persona and the host are one means there is no "summoning" per say, but unleashing your persona makes you weaker, but you have spells that seemingly are taken right from your life force, think of it as removing the SP bar, but having more powerful attacks and a slightly stronger defense, as a persona can clearly take as much as it can give.

Ryan slashed forward and a shadow was bisected and then vanished. By this point, Ryan could barely stand, must less fight, it really sucked that "Blood" personas could not learn healing skills. Ryan had very little energy left. Ryan smirked as Ichoran stood n=behind him, panting heavily as Ryan raised both arms, sword included into the air, "ICHORAN! MAZIODYNE" The sword crashed into the earth and the electricity vaporized most of the shadows. Ryan sunk to his knees. "ASO…open her up." Ryan spoke as her stood up and walked to the door, a huge smile on his face, he wasn't injured, but MAN was he tired at this point. The door opened as he was walking and Aigis, Mitsuru, and seven security guards walked in, guns all pointed at Ryan.

"Hey you there, the one without a sidearm, catch." Ryan threw the gun at him, "Gun is four notches high and two notches left, might wanna fix that. Ready, I just kicked a bunch of shadow's butts, are the guns really necessary?" Ryan asked Mitsuru.

"She was _clearly_ not amused, "What did you think you were doing, you could have caused a shadow breach inside of a lab where only three people have personas! You even could have died, after the group just spent a year and a half to rebuild you. What went through you head to cause this!?"

"My one and only true friend is in a coma, Takaya is dead thank god, and the shadows here most likely put Minato in his coma state anyway, so let those bastards have it." Mitsuru stared at him in shock.

Mitsuru signaled to Aigis to attempt to hack ASO discreetly, when she continued, "Must everything be direct and with killing with you, now stand down and hand over the long sword."

"I am sorry your royal majesty, was I overstepping my boundaries by existing, walking around, and utilizing the resources you gave me. And other than the armed guards, what give you any right to command us around. Unless Minato was under your orders too, in which case, you would be responsible for his death!"

"He died before us, sealing away Nyx, he sacrificed himself…"

"Oh, so you're a liar now, I can see why he hated your ass, when I was in school with him, he always called you a prissy little bitch who needed her daddy's reputation to do anything at all." Aigis signaled back that ASO was shut down and she was in control.

"My Father died to save Minato."

"Well, obviously he did about as good of a job there as when he was supposed to be aware of Ikutsuki's deranged experiments, unless that bastard wanted us to die and suffer, cause apparently that's what this corporation is! A sadistic Nazi party operation!"

"AIGIS!"

At the signal, Aigis shut off Ryan's processor and fell like dead weight, still alive, but back asleep, she whispered something to the one guard standing next to her and then she and Aigis walked out.

**Review if you please, will answer review in story or in PM if asked, will update at least once or twice a week, as I am a working individual.**

**Golden Fires**


	2. Icarus

Chapter 2

"Mitsuru-san…don't you think that we have imprisoned him long enough…I mean, we have had two whole years to digest the fact that Minato left us to become the great seal. Ryan has had twenty minutes of awakened time to digest this. What he needs is time, otherwise he will still be angry, no matter when you reactivate him." Fuuka Yamagishi said as talked with Mitsuru and Aigis about a week after Ryan's anger meltdown, which Fuuka blames on grief, Aigis blames on anger, and Mitsuru blames on his hate of her.

"I am petty sure he blames me for his death." Mitsuru said sullenly, "So he could be a danger, to you, to me, and to himself. So, I say we keep him locked up."

Aigis, surprisingly, remained silent.

But, what has he done wrong? Acted on his grief, If I remember, so did Yukari and you if I remember. Let him out. Let have time to think…even if is just for an hour…"

Mitsuru didn't want to let Ryan out, as he did just insult her entire family…but Yamagishi did have a point. "Fine, then Yamagishi, let him out, maybe another friendly face will help." Mitsuru consented.

Fuuka went down to the area where Ryan was being held and noticed something else. "Mitsuru, Look up fifth Generation Anti-Shadow weapon Labyrs…"

Persona 4 Arena: Life Beyond Metal

Chapter 2: Retribution

The P-1 grand prix was in full swing. Yu was power driving through most of his friends towards the end of the competition. "Madam President huh? She was not foreseen. Most unusual." Said a voice from a figure leaning against a wall of a tower overlooking the Stadium. However, sheer distance made it hard to see.

"This does not change the plans regardless, We must have the persona users life force in order to use the sacrifice…in fact, if I remember correctly, the plume of dusk contains just the right amount of energy required to finish the rite…Catch her, she will no doubt be exhausted after the fight. Use any means at your disposal, failure is not an option. Get me that Plume of dusk. Kill any who resist, and if she does, I just need her heart, not the shell." The figure that gave the orders turned around and turned out to be Ryan with feral red eyes.

The figure popped off the walls and nodded, his face obscured by the mask with the English number 5 on it, replacing on the mask where a roman numeral would be. The mask was Dark red and had claw marks on it. "Should I take Icarus with me commander?"

"Yes, as I said, use any force you have."

"As you command, Ichoran, the bloodied middle."

"Exactly, now get me my prize Daedalus."

The figure named Daedalus placed his left to his chest and bowed slightly before turning on his heel. Ryan laughed before he seemed to morph, Ichoran, the bloodied middle child of the Ichor family, stood to the world. Ichoran seem to stretch, then speak, "I hate that accursed human form. That form makes me feel so uncomfortable posing as the race I am going to gleefully wipe out soon." Ichoran walked towards a table where a bloodied Ryan, whose robotic parts were seemingly taken out, chained to the table. "I am afraid you have no choice in the matter. You will die. And I will destroy the world. Do not be afraid of the pain." Ichoran placed his hand on top of Ryan's head," We will be separated, and it will be all over soon. It will quick and painless. Least I can do for making me powerful enough to end the world." Ichoran left the table, laughing manically. The bloodied Ichoran stood on the edge of the tower. Ichoran stared at the stadium, completely unaware that his prisoner that he placed in prison far below the tower was escaping, now to allow his master to die so easily…

Yu was tired, very tired. Fighting Labrys after she was hacked, by Mitsuru's own group no less. The ASW now lay down, shut down after her hacking. Mitsuru gathered herself and started to politely tell the investigation team to stay out of it. The investigation argued against it. "Did you hear that?" Naoto asked everyone as she pulled out her revolver. She walked slowly to where she thought she heard the noise. Two figures dropped down from the rafters and simply beat Naoto to the group, then took her gun and kicked halfway back to the group. "If she is part of their group, just the mindless should take of them." One with a green pointy mask with the English number 4 on it said as he twirled Naoto's gun around in his hand.

Kanji charged blindly at Daedalus, swinging his chair. Daedalus stepped away, grabbed kanji and slammed him to the floor and beat him with his own chair until he was as unconscious as Naoto. Daedalus dropped the chair as Aigis stood near Mitsuru as she drew her Rapier. Daedalus stepped forward, a group of shadows around ten big behind him as well as the figure known as Icarus. Icarus went towards Labrys as Yu and Yukiko stood in front of the tired Labrys. Daedalus sighed and said in an evil voice, "I have no quarrel with you insignificant beings, I am here for the object my Maser requires and to be on my way. Step aside!" Daedalus commanded before a wall of wind below Yu and Yukiko back a couple feet, but did not injure them. Icarus smirked and fired a round from Naoto's gun at Chie, have with Yusuke grabbed her and moved her out of the way. That's when the shadows attacked like zombies, clawing and biting at the group as they tried to devour the group or something of the like. Icarus scooped up Labrys and walked towards the way they came.

Daedalus looked over his shoulder and saw that most of the minions had perished under the teamwork of the group of the investigation team and the remainder of SEES. The man simply laughed and yelled, "Lord Ichoran sends his regards!" Mitsuru looked shocked as well as Akihiko, but Aigis looked confused. Yu caught on rather quickly, "Who the hell's…Ichoran?" Yu said the Ichoran's name after taking a ragged breath, due to the fact he was beyond tired. Yukiko healed the group, and then fell beside her boyfriend to make sure he was okay.

Mitsuru suggested that they all take a break, due to the obvious exhaustion of the group, if only to get some food. The group nodded, as they could go in right after. The group realized that they were in no position to go after another threat in the same day, or at least back-to-back.

Mitsuru sat on the bench as Yusuke and Yu got the food for the group. It was getting late in the evening. Mitsuru was about to eat the food bought from the food court for her when her phone rang.

"Mitsuru speaking, what is it?"

"Mitsuru-san, I understand you wanted to know if any information turned up in the disappearances and there is a call on the line from someone claiming to have information."

"Patch him through, but scramble the location."

"Done ma'am."

"Mitsuru Kirijo, I presume?" An American voice speaking Japanese spoke.

"Yes, what information do you have for us?"

"Well, I currently have information regarding the danger that one of the disappeared persons may be in. The name of the individual is Ryan Solara. Ryan Solara is a blood persona user as you know, but what… okay that man is gone. I apologize for the deceit but I was under watch until recently, My name is Sapporo, I have been charged with apparently finding two individuals, now three that have gone missing, Ryan, Codename Daedalus, and Codename Icarus. I know they al disappeared in that general area something within the last several days when there searching for Ryan and to stop the rite."

"Icarus and Daedalus just attacked us I think, they were wearing masks I think. One was green with a number 4 and one was dark red with the number 5 on it."

"Damn, that means they are now part of the rite, shit. The masks signify with tower they were assigned to. Icarus was the envy tower and Daedalus was stationed at the tower of wrath. They are the fourth and fifth towers we discovered respectively. Damn it! The rite has to have entered its final stage! I am sorry, but if you want any hope of anyone there surviving except a crazed Ichoran hell-bent on destroying the world, you have officially 24 from the time he obtains a power source; the source will be destroyed after 18 hours. I watched one of my friends go through the rite, then we had to put him down as well…don't let Ryan die…please." The phone hung up.

-One Night's sleep later-

After the combination of Rise and Fuuka discovered the source was coming from a castle tower not far off from the front gate of the "School," the group wasted no time in getting over to the tower itself to attempt to destroy the rite before it took place. However, the exploration rules applied, Yu, lead a team and every one followed through the tower through the cleared path. The team was usually Chie, Yu, Kanji, and Naoto…but Naoto had lost her gun, so Aigis filled in. But like some of the dungeons before them, the person there said things to them. They did not however, say it from the trapped point of view.

"It was all so harmless at first, they had herded us together as a "Government Research Project." We were the test group in the experiment, and it all started with blood tests, and some odd test they called the potentiality test, stupidest test in the world in my opinion. Very few of us passed the test: Alexi, Cody, Derek, Justine, Kevin, and Me. That and that Takaya fellow…I don't like him…"

The group stopped, "Who said that?" Chie asked.

"That was Ryan…is he reliving the BLOOD Project?" Akihiko asked.

"I hope not…" Fuuka responded.

The group continued on, pressing through the many cannon fodder enemies that usually inhabited these places. After the group entered the third floor, it started again, "The tests continued, like it was some kind of military training program. We are twelve and thirteen for goodness sakes…but our numbers are fewer now, any one who didn't pass the potentiality test was escorted out of the building, the Alexi went missing. And the rest of us haven't eaten in days. I just want to go home…but I still don't know where I am." The voice stopped again.

"Well hello there. I didn't expect to ever see you again." A familiar voice called out to them.

Naoto immediately got angry when she saw her revolver holstered to the side of a figure in a black cloak with a pointed green mask.

"Icarus…" Mitsuru spoke.

"OH, you do know my name." The figure laughed, "Then you know what to scream once you die!"

Icarus raised a different gun, an M9 Berretta Naoto noted, and shot himself in the head, scaring the heck out of the group due to the fact that it was not an evoker, but an actual gun. Ryan even shot himself in the shoulder, not the head. Icarus then laughed as a figure with fire wings and a sun instead of a halo. "Icarus. Fire wall." The figure spread it's wings and a wall of fire separated Yu's group from the res of the group. Rise communicated a message immediately, "Senpai! I am reading two different entities off of the enemy. One spreads across the entire body and the other is localized in the mask." The figure looked at the group that was Naoto, Yu, Kanji, and Chie. "Catch." The figure threw Naoto back her gun. "I don't kill harmless individuals. Now you can _try_ to hurt me." The figure kept laughing.

The fight was about to commence on the third floor as another figure with a mask of black with red claw masks watched on, "You have served you purpose Icarus. Now kill them so that the rite may proceed…" The figure walked away.


End file.
